Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones says she will not be joining the University of North Carolina (UNC) “without the protection and security of tenure.”
Hannah-Jones accepted a position at the university’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. The appointment generally comes with tenure.
According to NC Policy Watch, who first published the letter on its site, claimed that a “powerful donor,” ultimately led to the university’s change of heart.
“Since signing the fixed-term contract, Ms. Hannah-Jones has come to learn that political interference and influence from a powerful donor contributed to the Board of Trustees’ failure to consider her tenure application,” Hannah-Jones’ legal team wrote.
“In light of this information, Ms. Hannah-Jones cannot trust that the University would consider her tenure application in good faith during the period of the fixed-term contract. Such good faith consideration for tenure was understood to be an essential element of the fixed-term contract when Ms. Hannah-Jones agreed to enter into it. In light of the information which has come to her attention since that time, she cannot begin employment with the University without the protection and security of tenure.”
Hannah-Jones helped create The New York Times’s 1619 Project — a series documenting the history of the United States through the lens of slavery.
Earlier this month, a group of 38 faculty members at UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media signed a statement condemning the board’s decision.
“It seems apparent that the UNC Board of Trustees has again failed to review Nikole Hannah-Jones’s dossier for appointment as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism with tenure, despite affirmation at all previous levels of rigorous review,” the faculty wrote, adding, “The fact that the Board’s inaction might have resulted from donor influence is especially alarming.”
